Farmer to be tried for attack on academic

The Nelspruit farmer accused of tipping a desk onto Stellenbosch academic Anton van Niekerk is to go on trial in the Stellenbosch Regional Court in December.

Abel Albertus Malan, 47, appeared briefly in the Stellenbosch District Court on Thursday, before magistrate Anita Potgieter.

The matter was transferred to the Stellenbosch Regional Court, in the same building, and Malan was told to immediately go to the Regional Court, where he appeared before magistrate Anne-Marie Immelman.

Malan's alleged transgression was reportedly triggered by a letter written by the professor and which appeared in a daily newspaper

He was represented on Thursday by Pretoria attorney Paul Kruger, who told the Regional Court that Pretoria advocate Piet Pistorius would conduct the defence.

Immelman scheduled the hearing for December 6, when Malan will plead to charges of assault and intimidation.

A regional court can jail a convicted offender for up to 20 years. A district court cannot impose a jail sentence of more than three years.

It is understood that the case was transferred to the regional court because of the intimidation charge.

The case arose from a letter printed in the Beeld and Die Burger newspapers, in which the professor said the apartheid policies and the Afrikaner's involvement in the border bush wars were indefensible.

The letter apparently angered Malan, who confronted Van Niekerk about it in his office at the University of Stellenbosch.

State advocate Christiaan de Jongh alleges that Malan threatened Van Niekerk with harm unless he changed his views about apartheid and the role of the Afrikaner in the border war.

The professor stood his ground, prompting Malan to tip the professor's desk over onto him on July 14, the State contends.

The alleged threat of harm forms the basis of the intimidation charge.

The letter appeared in the two newspapers on July 5, and the alleged incident happened on July 14.

Malan's R5 000 bail was extended.